Chapter 1610: The Five Great Hooligans of the Heavenly Alliance

Brothers and Sisters, One Family! "Wuwu, Imperial Father, your son has come too late..."

The moment Zhu Cizhao walked into the great hall of the Red Fort, he saw the already aging Zhu Cilang striding quickly toward him. Somehow, he actually saw in Zhu Cilang the shadow of the Chongzhen Retired Emperor — that was his own father! At once, grief welled up from his heart, and he burst into loud wailing.

The moment he cried, Maria Theresa beside him cried along with him, "Wuwu, Imperial Grandfather..."

Zhu Cilang had originally been about to embrace Zhu Cizhao and weep together with him, but when he heard Maria Theresa crying like that, his attention was immediately drawn over — this little foreign girl was too beautiful! Whose daughter was she? How could her crying be so fake too? And she was crying and calling out "Grandfather" at the same time — could she be Chongzhen's granddaughter? Judging by her looks, she had a very strong foreign strain! She must be the daughter of some son Chongzhen had recklessly begotten with a foreign beauty, who had then married a foreign girl, and so produced this little foreign girl.

But why had her father not come? And why had she come along with Zhu Cizhao?

The curious Zhu Cilang no longer went to embrace Zhu Cizhao and weep, but instead stepped forward to comfort the little foreign girl. "Little girl, who is your father? Why did he not come? And what is your name?"

Maria Theresa wiped her tears. "Imperial Grandfather, my father is Henry of Austria, and I am Maria Theresa!"

"What?" Zhu Cilang was startled at these words. "You are Maria Theresa? The eldest daughter of Henry and Marie Anne?"

"Mm." Maria Theresa answered, then raised her head to look at the most powerful old grandfather in the whole world. "I am the eldest daughter of Henry and Marie Anne... When my father learned of the death of my great-grandfather, he was stricken with grief and had originally wanted to come in person to the Great Ming to mourn. But because the situation in Europe is tense, he truly could not get away, so he sent me to represent him in coming to the Great Ming to mourn!"

"Haha," Zhu Cilang laughed, raised his hand and pointed at Maria Theresa, and said to Zhu Hexing, "Eldest, your younger brother Henry has not, after all, forgotten that he is a descendant of the Zhu Ming imperial house. He could not get away himself, so he sent such a beautiful daughter to represent him in mourning. His filial devotion is truly praiseworthy!"

Zhu Hexing also laughed. "Younger brother Henry is indeed filial... Your son suggests recording younger brother Henry's name in the jade genealogy and enfeoffing him as a Prince."

What?

He was to be made a Prince just like that?

The moment Zhu Hexing's words came out, the three present — Zhu Cizhao, Zhu Hetu, and Zhu Helan — were all stunned.

What sort of situation was this? Grandfather had died, and he had not come to mourn himself, nor sent a son, but merely sent a daughter to make the trip — and that made him a filial son, worthy of being made a Prince?

Zhu Hetu and Zhu Helan were both somewhat dissatisfied — the two of them were of the same generation as Zhu Henry, and although they were born of concubines, they were far better than bastards.

But what titles did the two of them hold?

Zhu Helan, that Turkmen Khan, was not born of the principal wife, so he had no right to inherit a title. Later, by his own ability, he had conquered the territory of Turkmenistan, and only then had he begged from Zhu Cilang a Duke of Tu title... which even sounded rustic, not at all high-class.

And Zhu Hetu was the heir of a Commandery Prince — he was the eldest son of the principal wife, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Sanlan, and in the future he could inherit his father's Great Ming title at one rank lower, which would be a Commandery Duke.

The two of them had traveled ten thousand li to return and mourn, enough to move heaven with their filial devotion, yet Emperor Zhu had not granted them any additional title.

Henry of Austria had even changed his surname, and was no filial son or worthy descendant of the Great Ming at all — so why was he being made a Prince?

Zhu Cizhao also felt this was wrong. As a member of the imperial clan, he could not remain silent, so he hurried over to Zhu Cilang's side and said in a low voice, "If Henry is made a Prince, I fear it will be hard to convince the multitude!"

Zhu Cilang smiled, took Zhu Cizhao by the hand with one hand and Maria Theresa with the other, and walked together toward the throne, paying no attention at all to Zhu Hetu and Zhu Helan. It was Zhu Hexing who, smiling cheerfully, invited his two cousins to take their seats.

After everyone had taken their seats, Zhu Cilang shot a glance at Zhu Hexing. Zhu Hexing smiled and began, "This morning we received a six-hundred-li express military report from the Dzungar Kingdom: the Ottoman Empire's 200,000-strong western expedition army was, between September 10th and 15th, completely defeated within Austria, between the Lakeside and the Danube, by the army of the Archduchy of Austria... Losses are said to have reached 100,000 men! And Upper and Lower Hungary were occupied by the Austrian army within ten days after the end of the Battle of the Lakeside."

"In addition, there are rumors that, under the planning of Archduke Henry, the Archduchess Marie Anne has been elected Queen of Hungary!"

Zhu Cilang turned his head and looked at Maria Theresa, who sat dumbstruck in a chair on his right, and laughed. "Granddaughter, over in Austria, is it your mother who has the final say, or your father?"

"Of course it is my father who holds power!" Maria Theresa had already recovered from her shock, and gave a very definite answer. "The present Archduchy of Austria was created single-handedly by my father... When he founded the state, my mother was still a little girl, and had not yet married into the Hofburg Palace. Later, after my mother became Archduchess, she did not much involve herself in military or political affairs. The great power of the Archduchy of Austria is basically held by my father alone. If he did not hold sole power, the Austria of today could not possibly exist!"

"This country has progressed far too much compared to the era when Leopold I ruled!"

The Archduchy of Austria practiced absolute monarchy, just like Louis XIV's Kingdom of France in earlier days, operating on the principle of "I am the state." But Henry's enlightened despotism contained a great deal of progressive elements. During his reign, Austria's industry and commerce developed extremely rapidly, Vienna became the financial center of Europe, and Austria's serfdom was also basically dismantled — the progress achieved by the Archduchy of Austria over these twenty-plus years also demonstrated, from another angle, that Archduke Henry's authority was by no means small.

If he did not hold great power firmly in his hands, how could Henry possibly have implemented so many policies beneficial to the development of industry and commerce in Austria? He had even nearly done away with serfdom entirely... Although the elimination of serfdom was related to the fact that the Austrian nobility had suffered enormous losses from Leopold's disastrous defeat and lost most of their strength, Austria's serfdom inevitably still possessed powerful remnants.

"Then why does Henry not make himself king, and instead let Marie Anne be the one?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

Maria Theresa thought for a moment, then said, "Having my mother become queen was probably to placate my maternal grandfather... My mother also bears the surname Bourbon! If she becomes Queen of Hungary, then Hungary will have a Bourbon as its monarch. My maternal grandfather, Emperor Louis the Great, could not possibly go to war with my mother over Hungary, could he?"

She pondered a while longer, then continued, "In addition, my mother serving as Queen of Hungary can also prevent the merger of Hungary and Austria."

Zhu Cilang pressed on, "Does Henry really not intend to establish an Austro-Hungarian Empire?"

"Austro-Hungarian Empire?" Maria Theresa was taken aback. "You mean an Empire of Austria and Hungary?"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Is it possible?"

Maria Theresa shook her head. "At least I cannot see such a possibility... And the Austrians would not have such an idea either, would they? They are living very well now, and there is no need to merge with Hungary!"

Zhu Cilang thought for a while, then asked again, "Then in the future, Henry will not let Karl inherit both Austria and Hungary at the same time?"

"Definitely not!" Maria Theresa laughed. "My father's greatest ideal is for each of us siblings to possess a crown!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, thinking to himself: So Henry is the truly good father after all! His two illegitimate sons have already taken Portugal and Brazil, and now he has gotten Austria and Hungary... He still needs four more countries, and then he will have gotten one country for each of the six legitimate children he and Marie Anne raised together!

With so much territory still available to be seized in Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, the probability of achieving his wish in the future is not small!

End of full text.